Roberta Harper

North Carolina

Chief Executive Officer
Women's Inter-Cultural Exchange (WIE)

Biography

Harper of Charlotte, North Carolina is the Chief Executive Officer of Women's Inter-Cultural Exchange (WIE). The nonprofit corporation founded in 2005 is organized and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes including, without limitation, building and bridging social capital among women of diverse cultures, fostering cross-cultural awareness and developing the infrastructure for community dialog, engagement and programing.

In former professional roles at Bank of America, Harper was the business support executive leading the Program Management Office for the Advisory Growth and Development Group to develop, partner and coordinate resources to drive a comprehensive finance advisory strategy project plan. She was the enterprise stress testing transformation executive leading the completion of the Enterprise Stress Testing Enhancement Plan at Bank of America, corporate treasury transition executive for both assessment and execution focused on Merrill Lynch and countrywide, quality and productivity executive for the CFO group and corporate treasury change management executive responsible for strategy execution. Harper joined the company in 1972 as securities cashier in the investment department. She was promoted to senior vice president in 1992 as the Texas funding/trading manager and principal for the Texas Dealer Bank and held securities licenses series 6, 7, 52, 53 and 63. She also earned her Six Sigma Black Belt in 2008.

She is a graduate of Leadership Charlotte Class XXVI with demonstrated interest in the Charlotte community and a willingness to assume civic leadership. Harper recently served on the board of Girl Scouts Hornets' Nest Council and was the board chair from 2004 to 2010. In 2007 and 2008, Girl Scouts Hornets' Nest Council purchased 725 acres of raw land in Iredell County to build a new outdoor leadership center/camp for girls called Oak Springs. Harper served as their capital campaign chair in 2012 and 2013. Harper's family created Hugaroo, Inc. in 2006 with a mission to provide a new stuffed animal to every infirmed child with a diagnosis of cancer or other traumatic condition. In 2010, she was selected as a North Carolina Delegate for Vision 2020, a national project focused on advancing gender equality by energizing the dialogue about women and leadership. She collaborated with the WIE in 2012 to leverage their Mentoring Across Difference Program that supports local universities and their selected students with professional mentors. WIE is now a Regional Ally of Vision 2020.